gilda_elise

“Oh, Mrs. Sirman, there’s a problem with your husband’s cremation.”“What sort of problem?”“It’s his body.”“What about it?”“It won’t burn.”

And so it begins for Pam Sirman…the first step toward learning that everything she thought she knew about her husband is wrong, perhaps even his humanity. But if he's not human, what is he? Pam is one of three lives that will be drawn together by the apocalypse of the Upwelling.The other two are Chan and Danni, but their worlds are already in chaos. A few weeks ago a fierce storm accompanied by an upwelling from the Atlantic abyssal plain tore into Atlantic City. When it receded, the city and its 25,000 inhabitants were gone without a trace. Chan and Danni remember being in the city that day, but the ten hours during which the Upwelling occurred have been wiped from their memories.They want those memories back. Or do they? Did they witness something so unspeakably ghastly that their minds can’t face it? Or was that ghastly thing something they did? And worst, were they responsible for the Upwelling?

The book shares many of the same plot points as Wilson’s The Adversary series. Both have unseen forces at work, both have humans who are more than human. But while The Upwelling is an interesting read, it doesn’t live up to the previous series. Though the Secret History of the World is noted and the books have been added to the History timeline, there are too many differences for me to see this book as part of that series.

Still, I enjoyed the book, but I think it would have worked better if it had been kept to its own universe. Another slight fault is that the characters aren’t as likable or compelling as those in The Adversary series. I sort of liked Chan and Danni, but found Pam to be too much of a cliché.

Yet, all in all, this combo science fiction/horror kept me interested, and I do look forward to the sequel (though, since it’s part of a series, it could be awhile.)